Day 6 – At sea - Sep 30

This is the second sea day of three in a row.  Another bright and beautiful day with the temperatures in the low 80’s and the humidity in the 80’s!!  Warm and wet!  We had a noisy night for some reason and many in our group had trouble sleeping with creaks, squeaks, bangs and other assorted noises a ship makes when they are speeding along the Pacific Coast!  Poor Jim was wandering the hallways looking for an empty room!  Pat and Lee Anne called for help this morning to fix an obnoxious banging outside their room on a balcony two doors down!  Our room has it’s share of new noises and the most annoying sounds like a sick cricket!  Can’t pinpoint it though!  We heard today that the seas will get rough overnight as we will be passing through an area with lots of wind.  Oh, goody!  Doubling up on the Bonine!!

Played trivia this morning with Al, Betty and Don (of course my stalwart friends, Edna and Les are always present!) and we managed a weak third place.  Really stinky questions!  This afternoon Edna, Les, Betty, Ed and I managed a FIRST PLACE!  Hooya!!  We shared it with three other teams…but a first is a first!!  The best part is we beat the team that has been denying us first place all week!  Bwahaahah!

The Commodore and I were invited to the luncheon today that honors the top 40 “most traveled” passengers!  It was held in a private area in the dining room and the Captain and senior staff all attend.  It was very nice and the food was scrumptious!  We had lobster and red snapper that was delicious.  Our table was hosted by the Manager of the Hotel and her name is Sheila Griffin.  She’s been at sea for 25 years and is a delight.  We have sailed with her on other ships but this is the first time we’ve been able to chat.

I had a chance to ask her about the laundry situation since all the passenger laundry rooms on the ship were closed today.  Our room steward told me that there is NO laundry being done today since there is a problem with some pipe that’s blocked.  The Commodore sent out his underwear yesterday to be washed and it’s not back so who knows when he’ll see it again!!!  He says he can turn the ones he’s wearing inside out and get another day out of them!!  The laundries are still closed tonight so they weren’t fixed by “late afternoon” after all!  We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

A group of us had dinner in the Italian restaurant this evening called Sabatini’s and we laughed a lot and ate a lot.  Groan!

It was formal night once again so most of the other’s donned their finest and went off to the dining room!

Another great day with a great group!!  So lucky!

XOXOXOXO

M

Day 5 – at Sea

It will come as no surprise that the most significant thing I have to report is that I took a 30 minute nap today!!!

Today is the first of three sea days on our way to San Juan del Sur.  The seas are glassy with no whitecaps, saw some dolphins frolicking and several ships passing by.  The pools are now crowded and, since most of the passengers are “older”, it’s best to avert ones eyes while passing by the loungers!!!  I know, I am one!!

Ran into nearly all the group today and everyone seems quite happy and relaxed.  We had a group meet for cocktails this afternoon and then another group went to one of the alternative restaurants for dinner.

I may stop reporting about trivia.  Believe it or not…a second place this morning and we even had a full complement of players!  Al, Betty, Don and Jim joined us but we failed to deliver a number one performance!  Pooh!  This afternoon, Edna, Les and I were joined by a nice couple from Bangor, N. Ireland and although we gave it our best…..were bridesmaids once again.  Not a good pattern.  There was a very POOR question this afternoon that caused a huge ruckus with all the trivia players.  Everyone was ticked!

Question:  What is the world’s largest landlocked harbor?

The answer was San Francisco!!!!  Uh?  One guy in the back of the room shouted that our ship just left there and now we’re in the Pacific!!!  You should have heard the yelling!  You’d think the prizes were free cruises instead of blue Princess lanyards!!  Very amusing!

This morning’s trivia had an amusing standoff between the staff member doing the questions and an Aussie sitting in the back of the room.  The Aussie yelled “I can’t hear you….turn up your mike”.  The staff yelled back “move to one of the seats in front!”.  This went back and forth a couple of times and then the crowd finally shouted the Aussie out of the room!  How wonderfully hilarious!!!  Don’t mess with trivia nuts!

Another sea day tomorrow and by then the natives should be much more restless and much more amusing!  I hope to have some entertainment for you then!

XOXOXOXOX

M

Day 4 – Cabo San Lucas

I was up early this morning to watch us turn into the bay at Cabo.  Warm, sunny, humid and the water was so blue!

The anchor was dropped about 7 am and by 7:45 the tenders were beginning to operate between the ship and the shore.

The Commodore along with Don and Betty, Jim and Molly, Lauren and Walter, Barbara and Joe, Dan and Kathy and Tom and Michele disembarked with the first groups and headed off to their ATV adventure on the beach and in the desert!  I am happy to report that a wonderful time was had by all!  Apparently, the “girls” out-performed the guys and were the leaders of the pack!  They dealt with their “do rags”, helmets, goggles, bandanas over their noses and mouths, and lots and lots of Baja DIRT!!  Betty said she came back with different colored eyebrows!  Dan had worn white shorts that, after the ride, with the sweat and dirt looked like….well, from the back….ummmm!  They were all very happy and very dirty and would do it all again! 

Paula and Hal walked around the town and Les and Edna did snorkeling and coastal cruise.  Edna was quite disappointed in her tour and I think she’ll give the shore excursion desk a little visit!!

Having the ship practically to myself was nice and while it was still cool I did a few laps around the deck.  Finally getting to the point my shoulder doesn’t hurt when I walk! 

I showed up for trivia in the late morning and had to fight my way through the crowd…..of three other people!!!  We split into two teams of two and I did NOT come in second place!  Got a nice Princess carabiner to prove it!  The afternoon trivia wasn’t so good and we came in third…L

I made the right decision today to not get off the ship since the waters were quite choppy and as I was watching the tenders load could see that folks were getting knocked around.  I will not use the tenders in Nicaragua either even though we have 3 more sea days till we reach that anchorage. 

We seem to have a pretty squared away cruise staff on this ship so the trivia’s and games have been well run and participation is fun!  No Blake’s!!!

Time to call it a day!

XOXOXO

M

Day 3 – At sea, September 27

The farther south we sail the warmer the sea temperatures and the outside air!  It was a spectacular day with very calm seas.  The pools are still a bit too chilly for “games” but the deck chairs are filling up!

We had a later breakfast today since we lost an hour last night for a time change.

Made a short casino run in the morning before heading off to trivia where, twice today, we came in second!!  We have a terrible case of “seconditis”!  To be very fair, the first night of the cruise, Lauren and Walter, Barb and Joe and Al and Becky + Jim WON the multi-media trivia!!!  We must give them their props for doing such a great job!  Now, if they’d only show up and help out during the day, I’d be quite appreciative!  Al did come and play this morning which helped to secure that coveted “2^nd place”!!!

Ran into everyone in our group today and it’s so nice to see everyone so very happy and relaxed!  Some of the couples did formal night last night and had a wonderful time.  Lee Ann and Pat had dinner on deck at the Movies Under the Stars big screen and watched the 49ers game!  They thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Several of our group are celebrating birthdays and tonight, at dinner, Ed Page treated us all to champagne in honor of Gloria’s birthday!  Thanks, again, Ed!!

So far, it seems like we have a very sedate crowd on this cruise and they’re behaving……darn!  Always fun to have a little drama!!

Tomorrow we reach Cabo San Lucas and we are due to arrive at 8am.  The Commodore and twelve others are off to drive ATV’s on the beach somewhere.  Tom got everyone “do rags” to wear under their helmets because he says they might have “cooties”!!  Hopefully, I will be able to look at some funny pictures and I’m sure they’ll have riotous stories to share.

Don’t know what others are doing but since it’s a “tender” port and there’s no pier to walk on, I will be staying onboard.  Too soon to test the shoulder on a small, heaving boat!

I am hoping to get this posted tonight but I have been unable to access the internet all day long so it might be a challenge.  If it doesn’t go tonight I will have better luck in the morning for sure.

Bye for now from the fun and relaxing Island Princess.

XOXOXOXO

M  (just managed to sign on to send this at 3:15am!!!!

Day 2 – At sea – 9/26

We had a pretty good night’s sleep last night and I even managed to put a straight 90 minutes on my sleep (less) chart!!   This enhances my theory that I get the best sleep on a cruise ship….must be the rocking….like a cradle!!

Had a leisurely breakfast in the Horizon Court with Betty and Don and Molly and Jim.  Saw a few others in our group wandering around up there as well!  After breakfast it was time to get set up for my casino donations and played the slots for a while till it was time for trivia.  You guessed it…..second place!  Aaargh!  When I played in the afternoon we scored yet another second place!!  We’ll get there!

The weather was simply gorgeous today and we enjoyed mild temperatures in the 60’s and brilliant sunshine.  The pool areas are starting to attract some hardy souls!  There is also an indoor pool available so there’s something for everyone.

All in all it was a lazy, relaxing day and, even with all that activity, I managed to take a great nap!  It’s been 3 weeks today since the surgery and I feel I’m needing to catch up on some sleep.  Guess this cruise is the best solution available!!

Wish I had more to report but I’m sure some characters will appear any day now to amuse us! 

XOXOXOXO

M